Tesla adds autopilot to Model S Cars

A year ago, Tesla began equipping Model S cars with radar, cameras, ultrasonic sensors and other hardware to begin incrementally introducing self-driving capabilities, the California-based company says. CEO Elon Musk emphasizes that the update is a public beta. These mutually reinforcing systems offer realtime data feedback from the Tesla fleet, ensuring that the system is continually learning and improving upon itself. People with Model S sedans that were made earlier don’t have the required sensors and won’t be able to add them retroactively, Musk said. But it learns over time. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about with cars driving themselves”, Musk stated, much to Top Gear’s relief.

The Autopilot technology “works really well in Germany”.

“In the beginning, it will not be as good as a person, but over time it will actually be better than a person”, Musk said. The vehicle will automatically stay in lane, slowing down as necessary to avoid traffic and steering around curves.

“It’s a real boon in high-traffic situations”.

The autosteer features will work on city streets – but given that the auto now doesn’t recognize things like stop lights, it’s not advised. “It should not hit pedestrians, hopefully”, he said.

“It can see and sense cyclists and pedestrians”.

Automatic parallel parking. Who doesn’t hate parallel parking? “It should handle them well”, he said during a press event for the new update (via BBC). Even at level 3, however, no naps or texting would be allowed: drivers are expected to remain alert and intervene as directed by the system. Mr. Musk has been testing the software regularly in Southern California near his home and said it worked best with a auto in front of it and clear lane lines.

Owners would get the system through a software update starting on Wednesday evening in North America. The Autopilot feature will be a cost upgrade (a $2,500/Rs 1.57 lakh one-time charge in the US), and it will also be available on the forthcoming Model X. We’ll start with a cool feature that you can enable when you want to change lanes on a highway and that scans your surroundings and changes lanes for you whenever it determines it’s safe to do so. But by that time, the regulatory approval for that will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Musk said that from a technical standpoint, fully autonomous, hands-free driving was at least three years away, although it would probably take regulators longer than that to allow it.

The Autopilot software, as it is dubbed, can be downloaded into all existing Model S cars, enabling the vehicle to drive itself through highways with very little intervention from the drivers.